Video games, pen&paper RPGs and other nerdery

All about the games

It’s been ages since I last wrote about video games. I almost typed computer games, but then, I changed my mind. Because reasons. So for what it’s worth, today’s post is about the games I am currently playing, on all platforms, hah. It’s quite a few.

MMO:

WoW. Still. Vaguely. Basically, I am underwhelmed with the current amount of content. I haven’t logged in once since 6.1 dropped, because that’s how exciting I find all the new content contained within. I am burnt out on garrison play, and the only compelling thing outside of raids for me is the garrison campaign, which I should have completed soon. And then? Oy vey. I sincerely hope that 6.2 will be more like the Landfall patch 5.1 was, with quests, and actual reasons to play that aren’t missions or farming pets in old raids.

I do however still love my guild and our raid team. When we actually get to raid, I love it. Unfortunately, I don’t think I am the only one bummed out by current WoW. One of our three raid tanks just started a break. We raid two nights a week, and lately, we’ve had to cancel a few raids either because tanks were missing or people in general are missing. Last week there was no raid at all. That’s how compelling 6.1 is, eh. Current progress: Highmaul Normal 7/7, Highmaul Heroic 4/7, Blackrock Foundry Normal 1/10. I somehow don’t think we’ll be Ahead of the Curve this expansion.

I often think about trying FFXIV, because great people like Liore and Syl report about how fantastic the community is. Let’s not forget how enthusiastic Belghast is about the game in general. Yet I haven’t played a single Final Fantasy game ever, and also don’t think I have time for a second MMO. There’s barely enough time in the day to play all the other games I am playing, and commitment to a subscription game always means investing time. That I don’t really have in spades. I might do a trial one weekend when I am not playing tabletop.

PC:

Dragon Age: Inquisition. I wanted to write a whole blog post about this game. Dragon Age as a series is near and dear to my heart. Yet I have owned this game since Christmas and just keep playing it in bursts. There’s a couple reasons for that. First off, game designers, shame on you. The Hinterlands as first area was a stupid idea. It’s too large, has very little impact on the story, and is probably mostly to familiarize the player with the game and its content. The quests are boring, and completionists like me will feel compelled to do everything, which basically means you’re doing the Dragon Age version of running around in Elwynn Forest. Not particularly heroic. Then you pick a faction and suddenly the game actually has a story and a reason to keep you playing. Who knew? I sided with the mages, and their story bit is all the wonderful gritty, ‘grimdark’ fantasy that I have come to love and associate with Dragon Age.

My second reason for not playing DA:I much is that the Inquisitor is fairly bland. I liked that you were able to play Hawke in DA2 either sweet, sassy or pretty aggressive, but at least my Inquisitor has no real personality. The companions of the Inquisitor, even dear old Varric, are fairly bland as well, again compared to DA2, and DA:O as well. Vivianne, so much lost potential. I run around with Cassandra, Varric and the Iron Bull, who I think are the most entertaining of the bunch by far. Even if it is very difficult not to stare at the Iron Bull’s nipples all freaking day long.

I am still fairly into it, and not anywhere near done, afaik. If only the distraction below hadn’t arrived.

Playstation 3:

That’s a whole story itself. Let me begin with something that might make most people’s brain explode in disbelief: I haven’t owned a TV since…2006-ish. I haven’t actively watched a lot of TV since the early 2000s, when the Internet was waaaaay more exciting than watching TV. All the shows and movies I have watched in recent years were watched on my computer. But it got harder. For one, I am older now. I have been married to the primary reason the Internet was so exciting for 12 years. Some nights I don’t want to sit in a desk chair, because I already do that at work for 8 hours. Sometimes I want to lie on the couch and watch a TV show. But not on my 24″ monitor. On a TV. So why didn’t I just buy one? My SO hates TVs and was vehemently against bringing one into our house. We actively fought about this for years. She likes to sit on the couch and piddle around on the Internet on her laptop. She doesn’t want the distraction that a TV is to her. Oh boy, that was a tough battle. In the end she caved because I am the world’s biggest whiner. I whined my way to a TV. I have had it for two weeks now, and I am totally overjoyed. It’s a 40″ Sony Bravia with wifi, tons of apps, and lots of nifty features. Oh man, Netflix streaming is so sweet, I am totally loving it.

Because I love my TV so much, you get a rare Kadomi sighting.

One of the primary reasons I have always stated for wanting a TV was to play games on it. A week after I got the TV, my co-worker and friend Anika gave me her PS3 that she currently doesn’t need (as she already has another one and a PS4), and a bunch of games. My other co-worker and friend gave me more games I should play. Blissful. I feel like I missed out all those years before.

Here are the games I am currently playing on it:

Origami, aaaah. I will never look at origami the same way.

Heavy Rain – I looooove story-heavy games, and Heavy Rain is great. I seriously find it outstanding. Short summary: a serial killer kidnaps kids and then drowns them in rain, leaving an origami figure in their hands. You get to play four characters who are all involved in the events around the Origami Killer: a father whose son is kidnapped, an old private investigator looking into the case, an FBI agent, and some journalist lady who meets the father. The game is mostly story-telling with lots of QTE action. It also has fairly traumatic sequences, like the journalist being attacked in her home, and the dad having to drive the wrong way on the highway. It’s such a mindfuck game. I love it. It has its silly moments, when it comes to QTE. There’s a reason there’s a meme around called Press X to Jason.

Uncharted – I pretty much wanted to play Uncharted ever since hearing that the Tomb Raider reboot is pretty much similar to an Uncharted game. I started the first game, and I was not disappointed. It’s probably a bit too shooter-heavy for me, but I hear that’s quite different in the next games. I am determined to have a PS4 for Uncharted 4. The jumping sequences are everything I ever loved about Ezio’s Assassin’s Creed games. It’s such great entertainment.

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – A match 3 strategy game set in a fantasy world. What’s not to love? It’s highly entertaining, but also fairly challenging whenever you run into an opponent of a higher level. Especially the elite units are lethal.

I have a lot more on my To Play list, and I can’t wait to play some more. It now makes me wish I had DA:I for PS3 instead of PC. Alas.

Android:

I have a Moto G phone, freshly upgraded to Android 5, and I play games on it too. I usually don’t mention them because they’re stuff like…Candy Soda Crush Saga. Ahem. However, thanks to Amazon regularly giving apps away for free, I picked up three fun games that I want to recommend: Monument Valley, 80 Days and Sorcery 2.

Monument Valley is ridiculously gorgeous for a pixel game. You play a silent princess who has to navigate worlds by manipulating the area she is in. It’s full of optical illusions and clever tricks. The soundtrack is lovely too. It’s a very relaxing game.

80 Days is basically a Choose Your Own Adventure style game set in a steampunk version of Jules’ Verne’s classic. It’s really more about the story-telling than actual gameplay, for all that I know, but it’s highly fun, and really well-written. You play Passepartout, the valet of Phileas Fogg. Expect to ride steam cars driven by android-like robots, or ride the Orient Express. You can freely choose what way you want to travel. I am currently determined to head to India from my current location Istanbul.

Sorcery 2 is from the same people who made 80 Days. Again, it’s a Choose Your Own Adventure style game as you explore a dangerous city that you wish to leave again. It appears to be huge. It has an interesting combat system, and a surprisingly complex system of magic spells. If you like Interactive Fiction, I highly recommend it.

I loved Heavy Rain so much. It stressed me out so much as well. I could not tear myself away from that game and I HAD to find out what happened! I think now that I have a child it would probably be too much for me – very glad I played that game before my daughter gave me some additional perspective! Nowadays even though I still really like that game, I have some major gripes with the plot. But even with those in place, I have fond memories. It’s also the only game I’ve played that didn’t make me want to punch whoever decided to include QTEs, but it helps that I was prepared for them since they are all of the gameplay

For Uncharted, I became very frustrated with the amount of shoot ’em up was in the game. I just wanted to explore! Why do bad guys keep trying to kill me? ARG!

I felt the same way in Uncharted 2 as well but I don’t think I’m quite halfway through that one.

I have a feeling you might really enjoy FFXIV but I understand the time issue when it comes to subs. If you ever do go trial, make sure to hop on Cactuar with us! 🙂 It’s a NA server but we still manage to play together on weekends usually and there’s ppl like myself and Jaedia who are EU based.